52 AUSTRALIAN SKY & TELESCOPE November | December 2017
CELESTIAL CALENDAR by Alan MacRobert
SpottingUranus&Neptune
A
bright planet usually attracts
attention in the late night long
before it comes to opposition.
But you have to be dedicated to net dim
Uranus and Neptune before they become
conveniently placed in the evening sky.
Which, for the next decade or so, will
mean spring and early summer.
Neptune, magnitude 7.8 in Aquarius,
was at opposition on September 5.
Uranus, in Pisces, came to opposition on
October 19. At magnitude 5.7, Uranus
is detectable with the naked eye if you
have a good dark sky. Both planets are in
the ‘Great Water’ region, over which the
Great Square of Pegasus reigns.
The edge of the Great Square just
made it into the top of our wide-field
chart on the facing page, which shows
stars to 7th magnitude. That’s more
than enough for finding brighter Uranus.
Use the zoomed-in view of Uranus’s
immediate area to pinpoint where it will
be on its path for your date.
Fainter Neptune will require using
the Neptune enlargement at your
eyepiece. But this season the planet will
be easier to locate than usual; it’s just a
degree or so from Lambda (h) Aquarii,
magnitude 3.7.
+10°
+8°
+6°
Sept 1
Oct 1
Nov 1
Dec 1
Jan 1,
2018
Feb 1
Mar 1
+
i
k
1 h 50 m 1 h 40 m 1 h 30 m
Path of Uranus
PISCES
Star magnitudes
4 5 6 7 8 9
–6°
–8° Sept 1
Oct 1
Nov 1
Dec 1
Jan 1,
2018
83 Feb 1 h
23 h 10 m 23 h 00 m 22 h 50 m
Path of Neptune
AQUARIUS
Star magnitudes
4 5 6 7 8 9
+10 °
0°
–10°
α
α
ε δ
φ
γ
γ
η
η
η
ι
ι
κ
λ
λ
ν
ο
θ
θ
ω
ξ
ψ ψ 1
2
ζ
ζ
ζ
AQUARIUS
Path of
Uranus
Path of
Neptune
CETUS
PISCES
PEGASUS
2 h 00 m 1 h 30 m 1 h 00 m 0 h 30 m 0 h 00 m 23 h 30 m 23 h 00 m 22 h 30 m
Star magnitudes
34567